11-05-2009 250000 OLPCs

21-05-2009, from Dept. of School Edn. & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development

As per the media reports, India has ordered 2,50,000 number of OLPC
laptops for 1,500 schools in India. Kindly look at the references
attached alongwith the letter. In relation to this news kindly supply me
the following information:

Q.1. Is it true that India is
buying 2,50,000 OLPC laptops for education of children? Kindly share the
details of the project and its expected date of beginning of
implementation.

Q.2. On what criteria schools were
selected to be a part of this project? Please provide me a copy of the
selection procedure followed for selecting the 1,500 schools.

Q.3.
Does this project also looks into the needs of children with physical
disabilities and mental challenges?

Q.4. Where do the
schools need to register for participating in the project. Kindly
furnish the details?

Q.5. I assume that the Ministry of
Human Resources Development must have invited tender for this. Kindly
provide me copy of the tender specifications, and details of who were
the bidders?

What's worse than a $10
laptop that winds up costing $30? A $10 $30 laptop
that's not
really a laptopOLPC
XO laptops. Waiting this long
to drink the Negroponte Kool Aid means 1,500 schools will get the latest
and greatest models, featuring VIA
C7-M processors and bumped up
storage. The plan is for a total of three million portable computers for
Indian schools this year, and while it's unclear just how many will be
little, green, and different, that's a whole lot of lappys regardless.

2.
With no $10 laptop in sight, India buys 250,000 OLPCsBy Ryan
Paul | Last updated April 27, 2009 8:41 PM CTThe government of India
has signed an agreement with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and
will purchase 250,000 of the organization's XO laptops. The machines
will be distributed to students throughout the country. India's decision
to embrace OLPC is a bit unexpected in light of the country's past
antagonism towards the project.

OLPC launched a pilot
program in India in 2007 with 20 XO laptops at a school in
Khairat-Dhangarwada village in the state of Maharashtra. Although the
pilot program was successful, the country's Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD) was highly skeptical about OLPC, and expressed
concerns about the health implications of prolonged laptop use among
students.

The MHRD later reversed its views
about the health implications of youth computing and launched its own dubious
program to build a competing $10 laptop. Unsurprisingly, the $10
laptop never materialized. When the country finally unveiled its highly
ambiguous plans for its $10 "Sakshat" computing initiative earlier this
year, it was revealed
that the device would not be a laptop and would cost significantly more
than $10 to produce.

India has
finally decided to adopt OLPC after all, despite the government's
previous skepticism and plans for building its own technology. PC World,
which spoke with OLPC India CEO Satish Jha, reports
that the laptops will be sent to 1,500 schools. Jha hopes to ship 3
million laptops in India this year. PC World also says that a small
roll-out will be taking place in Sierra Leone, where a human rights
group is paying to deploy 5,000 XO units.

OLPC
recently announced a hardware
bump and plans to drop AMD chips in favor of the VIA C7-M. The
update will also boost system memory to 1GB and internal storage to 4GB.
Prototype boards are expected to emerge in May. It's unclear if the
order placed by India is for the current hardware or for the updated
version. OLPC is also working on a more
ambitious 2.0 model which is expected to land in 2010.

In total sales and deployed units, OLPC still lags behind
Intel's competing Classmate PC initiative. India's purchase of 250,000
XO units will help OLPC recover some lost credibility. It demonstrates
that major buyers still believe that the program is viable and that the
laptops deliver reasonable value.

Please refer to your application filed under RTI Act, 2005 dated 11-05-2009. The reply to your queries, as pertinent to the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of ICT @ Schools is as follows:

1,2,5,6 : NO OLPCs have been purchased/sanctioned by GOI.

3 : ICT based teaching learning envisaged under the scheme also assists the objectives of Inclusive Education for the Disabled Children.

4 : Assistance under the scheme of ICT @ schools is provided on the basis of the Computer Education plans of the respective States/UTs.

19-06-2009,
from
Dept.
of School Edn. & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource
Development

I am
directed to refer to you application filed under RTI Act, 2005 dated
11-05-2009 and to state that under Computer Aided Learning (CAL) scheme,
a provision of Rs. 50 lakhs per district per year is available to the
States and it is also proposed to expand CAL facilities to all upper
primary schools in the 11th plan under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
scheme. Since CAL scheme is being implemented by the States, you may
obtain any specific information from the respective State Government.

29-06-2009, from
Distance
Learning Division, Ministry of Human Resource Development

Please refer to your letter dated 11-05-2009 addressed
to Shri P. K. Mohanty, Deputy Educational Adviser, Secondary Education
Bureau, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher
Education, New Delhi on the subject mentioned above. In so far as
Distance Learning Division of Department of Higher Education is
concerned, reply to Question No. 7 asked by you is given below:

"This
Division does not have any Project Report on building of $10 laptop in
India."